Dental student's suicide: Loan app agent held in Noida; HC reserves order on Dr Ram's bail plea

Kannur: Kerala Police's Crime Branch on Friday arrested a fourth accused in the loan app harassment case linked to the death of Nithin Raj R L, the first-year BDS student whose death at Kannur Dental College in Anjarakandy triggered statewide outrage and exposed multiple strands of alleged harassment.

Saurav Kumar (22), who allegedly worked as a telecaller for the digital lending platform InstaPay, was arrested in Delhi, said DySP Jeevan George, who is investigating the loan app harassment case. Kumar is a native of Trilokpuri in East Delhi, on the border of Noida.

Crime Branch said that Kumar had repeatedly contacted and pressured Nithin Raj over the repayment of a ₹15,000 loan he took from InstaPay.

The arrest came on the same day that the Kerala High Court reserved its order on the anticipatory bail application filed by Dr M Kodanda Ram, the former Head of the Department of Dental Anatomy at Kannur Dental College. He is the prime accused in a separate case relating to the student's death over caste discrimination, body shaming and academic harassment at the institution.

Nithin Raj (22) died on April 10, 2026, triggering statewide protests. His family accused Dr Ram of abetting his suicide, and the allegations gained momentum after several students publicly recounted their own experiences of harassment by the professor.
During the investigation, police uncovered another line of inquiry involving alleged intimidation by online loan recovery agents.

Based on the findings of the investigation, the Chakkarakkal police on April 17 registered a case against InstaPay under provisions relating to extortion and illegal money lending. According to the FIR, Nithin had borrowed Rs 15,000 through the app on January 4, 2026. Investigators alleged that the loan carried an exorbitant interest rate of 36% and that recovery agents subjected him to repeated calls, threats and mental harassment in the days leading up to his death.
The case was registered under Section 308 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita dealing with extortion, Section 13 of the Kerala Money Lenders Act and provisions of the Kerala Prohibition of Charging Exorbitant Interest Act.

Three persons had earlier been arrested in the loan app case: Jay Prakash of Haryana, Prashanth Keval and Rishikesh Tiwari from Uttar Pradesh. Crime Branch officers said Saurav Kumar was among the telecallers who directly interacted with Nithin.

The Crime Branch probe is being supervised by Kannur Crime Branch SP P Balakrishnan Nair.

In the High Court, Dr Ram, who has since been fired from the college, denied the allegations and argued that the student had been facing pressure from loan app operators over unpaid debts. The defence relied on the remand report that referred to threatening calls allegedly received by the student from recovery agents.
Nithin's family opposed the anticipatory bail plea, pointing to the addition of offences under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, and arguing that a series of incidents of harassment within the college had contributed to the student's death.
The High Court reserved its order after hearing both sides.

Dr Ram had approached the High Court after the Additional Session Court - IV in Thalassery denied his anticipatory bail application. The trial court had granted anticipatory bail to Dr Ram's colleague Prof Sangeetha Nambiar, a co-accused in the case.